‘Top Shot' guardsman joins Glock pistol team

Oct. 25, 2012 - 04:19PM
|
Last Updated: Oct. 25, 2012 - 04:19PM |

A specialist in the Arizona Army National Guard has turned her notoriety as a "Top Shot" contestant into a competitive shooting career as the newest member of Glock USA's practical pistol shooting team.

The most firearms instruction Spc. Michelle Viscusi had before last fall was in basic training.

"I really enjoyed shooting the M4, and once I got out of basic, I started shooting for fun," Viscusi tells Military Times.

She got the call for "Top Shot" Season 4 while in the middle of an 18-month deployment in support of a counternarcotics task force out of Fort Huachuca, Ariz. After being the fifth shooter eliminated on the show, Viscusi, 22, landed a modeling gig with Red Star Arms and appeared in Maxim.

"On ‘Top Shot,' I knew I was cast as an underdog with a military background," Viscusi says. "But after I started shooting successfully against competitors with much more experience, I realized I could become a serious shooter."

She began training with a coach last fall and attracted Glock's attention. She now shoots three or four matches a week while training and working behind the counter at Caswells Shooting Range in Mesa, Ariz., her military police unit. She uses a chambered training laser during dry-fire drills.

"Surrender draws, face-away draws, sitting draws, strong hand and weak hand manipulation, reloads" and other drills are all part of the regimen, she says.

Viscusi debuts for Team Glock at the U.S. Practical Shooting Association Rio Salado Desert Classic Area Championship in Mesa, Ariz., on Nov. 7.